The following email was received at MOSHCC on the 11th June 2025 from Chris Norris who is the Parks and Gardens Supervisor at Alexandrina Council.
We felt that it was relevant to share this information with the town so that everyone knows what Council has planned.
Dear Community Members and Stakeholders,
The Alexandrina Council’s Field Services Team is reaching out to connect with the Milang community and other key stakeholders regarding the future care and management of the rosemary hedge surrounding the Soldiers Memorial at the Milang Soldiers Memorial Gardens.
The existing hedge is nearing the end of its natural life and is showing visible signs of decline, making it increasingly difficult to maintain to the high standard this important site deserves. Council will be replacing both sections of the hedge (see map for details). Suitable rosemary stock will be planted, or subject to community feedback the hedge may be reinstated at using cuttings propagated from the original plants.
In addition to the hedge replacement, Council also plans to replace rose bushes that have reached the end of their life and to pressure clean the paving throughout the site.
We recognise and deeply respect the cultural, historical, and emotional significance of the gardens and the memorial. That’s why we want the community to have a strong voice in shaping what comes next. Your feedback and ideas will guide decisions around the type of replacement planting, ongoing care, and any potential enhancements to the site.
We’ll soon be sharing more details about how you can be involved, including opportunities to share your thoughts and participate in engagement activities.
Thank you for your continued care for this special place. We look forward to working together to ensure the Soldiers Memorial Gardens remain a meaningful and respectful space for Veterans, families, and the wider Milang community.
Warm regards,
Chris Norris
Parks and Gardens Supervisor
Alexandrina Council
Milang Soldiers Memorial Gardens Significance- Rosemary Hedge
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) grows wild on the Gallipoli peninsula. Its native distribution is in the Mediterranean region, Portugal and Spain.
In 1915 a wounded digger from Adelaide was repatriated to the Army Hospital at Keswick.
He brought back with him a small rosemary bush dug up from the slopes and ravines of the Anzac Cove and it was planted in the hospital grounds.
For decades small sprigs of the digger’s rosemary were worn to honour the fallen on Anzac and Armistice days and after the Repatriation Hospital was established during WW2 at Daw Park SA, cuttings were taken and it was grown into a hedge on the hospital grounds.
This history was only discovered by David Lawry OAM, Founder of the AoH Project, when as a landscaper in the late 1980’s he was inadvertently removing part of it during renovations and the hospital gardener told him of its origin.
Worried that it might all be lost he took cuttings and kept a number of them growing in his native nursery to conserve the plant for posterity.
From this 2004 planted hedge, cuttings were provided to the nursery industry and official labels produced. Subsequently the sale of each nursery-grown Gallipoli Rosemary, provides a royalty to the Avenues of Honour project.
Gallipoli Rosemary – Avenues of Honour
Latest update from Council received 29th July 2025
Dear Community Members and Stakeholders,
The Alexandrina Council’s Field Services Team is reaching out to connect with the Milang community and other key stakeholders regarding the future care and management of the rosemary hedge surrounding the Soldiers Memorial at the Milang Soldiers Memorial Gardens.
Further from our previous correspondence the dying Rosemary Hedge at Milang SMG will be removed with the week ending 8th August with the planting to follow weather permitting the 13th & 14th August. We extending an invite to the community and stakeholders to participate over these days in the planting of the new hedge on the 13th & 14th August and Council Field Services would love to work in partnership with this project.
Please let us know your interest in this activity and reach out via email if you have any further questions.
Kind regards
Chris Norris
Parks and Gardens Supervisor
Alexandrina Council